Eclipse 2017 was an adventure! I only had one day off of work, so I didn't want to drive from Seattle down to Oregon to get into the totality zone in fear of being trapped in traffic for days. The forecast for traffic issues looked dire. So what to do? I looked at the map of the totality zone to see what major cities it passed through in hopes of getting a flight. Nashville Tennessee! I got a ticket and was on the red eye that night. One of the worst trips I've had in recent memory! from delays and long layovers to just being overly tired, but I finally arrived. There wasn't much to walk to near the airport, like a park or anything so I decided to watch it from the roof of the parking garage. I was there pretty early, and it was just me and a couple from New Jersey that did the same as me, had just flown down to watch the eclipse and then go home. As the time came closer, the rooftop began to fill with people from all over the country and a few from other parts of the world. All of us were here to watch a rare event in human history; it was easy to bond with total strangers, we told stories of our adventures getting to Nashville and how excited we all were, how it didn't matter if the flights were expensive or difficult it was worth it. The moon began to cover the sun; smiles filled faces. There were clouds in the distance that looked like they might cover the sun. No one acted too worried at first, but as the eclipse was about three quarters complete, a small thick cloud moved in. I could feel the mood shift to worry as the sun and moon disappeared. 10 Minutes to totality we kept looking up, but the cloud wasn't moving as the sky began to get dark. 3 minutes to totality, worry set in with myself and everyone around me. 2 minutes people were starting to say things like "Oh well, you can't control what you can't control" And "I guess it wasn't meant to be" I kept looking up. About 1 minute to totality "I see it" I said as the cloud just moved out of the way. We all watched quietly now, you could hear a pin drop, then the moon completely covered the sun, the corona glowed bright, and cheers rang out. I laughed a happy, nervous laugh, I took I think two pictures and stopped because I just wanted to see it, burn it in memory and feel it. I could see the stars the planets, at that moment I could see with my own eyes how the planets traveled around the sun, I don't know if I ever felt like that before, I felt small yet part of something big. It wasn't just the celestial event that made me feel that way; it was the people that surrounded me. We didn't know each other an hour before this, and now we were exchanging numbers and planning trips to each other's towns, hugging and smiling, part of something bigger than ourselves.
